Research briefings

This page provides access to research briefings produced by the House of Commons Library, the House of Lords Library and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). You can filter the research briefings by date, type, or one of 350 topics. Pick your options from the dropdown menus.

Glossary

Commons Briefing papers: Papers providing in-depth and impartial analysis on every major piece of primary legislation and on other topics of public and parliamentary concern. Regular statistics papers are also published.

Lords Library Notes: Authored publications by the research section of the House of Lords Library that provide analysis of Bills, subjects for debate in the House and other issues of interest to Members.

POSTbriefs: Responsive policy briefings from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology based on mini-literature reviews and peer review, typically commissioned by select committees and library research services.

POSTnotes: Proactive four-page policy briefings from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology based on reviews of the research literature, interviews with stakeholders and peer review, commissioned by the POST Board.

The UK is party to hundreds of international treaties with third states or organisations, many of them on trade, by virtue of its EU membership. To continue to benefit from the advantages of these agreements, the Government has been seeking to replace them in a UK bilateral context. The Government has prioritised trade agreements, but has also agreed replacement agreements covering aviation services and safety, and road transport, for example. But Parliament is not happy about the way the Government is carrying out this 'treaty continuity programme' and Committees in both Houses have called for a greater scrutiny role for Parliament in treaty-making processes. This paper looks at what has been going on and what Parliamentary Committees in both Houses have asked for. It includes a table showing where we are with these treaties so far and what sort of scrutiny they have undergone in their original form as EU treaties and currently as replacement treaties.

The soil microbiome, communities of microorganisms in soils, underpin natural processes in soil habitats and are affected by environmental and land use change. This POSTnote gives an overview of the benefits provided by the soil microbiome, ways of assessing the soil microbiome, and measures to improve its condition.

This paper provides links to a selection of statements both written and oral that have referenced Brexit in the title or in the statement since the EU referendum. This paper will be updated periodically.

This reading list brings together briefings on Brexit by the Parliamentary libraries and the Devolved Assembly research services with reports by Parliamentary and Devolved Assembly committees following the result of the EU Referendum on 23 June 2016.

There is ongoing debate about trophy hunting, its contribution to wildlife conservation and links to wildlife trafficking. Those opposed to trophy hunting are calling for a ban on imports of hunting trophies into the UK.

Agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, which has implications for food security. This POSTnote examines measures to reduce the impacts of food production and agricultural land use on climate change (mitigation) and to adapt agricultural land use to that change (adaptation).

This House of Lords Library Briefing Pack contains a selection of material relevant to the forthcoming debate on what assessment Her Majesty's Government have made of wild salmon stocks in the UK, in particular in Scotland, in the light of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation year of the salmon.

There has been a long running campaign to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses. The Wild Animals in Circuses (No2) Bill will introduce a ban in England and will have its second reading on 7 May 2019. A ban already exists in Scotland and there are proposals for a ban in Wales.

In 2017, there were 3.79 million procedures completed involving regulated living animals, which was the lowest annual number since 2010. This note summarises and analyses trends in data, including the growth of universities as the dominant seat of research on animals, the use of different species, and the decline of research for toxicological purposes.

The House of Commons has voted on various options for the future UK-EU relationship in the hope that an agreed UK position may help to break the impasse following the Commons' rejection of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. The Government says it may hold a further Commons vote on future relationship options. What options have been proposed?

This briefing looks in detail at the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the EU and UK and finalised on 14 November. It was endorsed by EU Member State leaders at a special European Council summit on 25 November and the UK Prime Minister has promoted it in the UK Parliament and around the country. The Agreement has been debated at length in Parliament on several occasions and, with the Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relationship, has been put to the so-called 'meaningful vote' twice - in January and March 2019. But the House of Commons has not yet endorsed it and time is running out for UK approval before the default exit date of 29 March 2019.

There are ongoing animal health and welfare concerns about puppy smuggling into the UK using the EU Pets Travel Scheme as a cover for importing puppies of desirable breeds, often underage and bred in poor conditions.

This House of Lords Library Briefing Pack contains a selection of material relevant to the forthcoming debate in the House of Lords on the report from the European Union Committee 'Brexit: food prices and availability'.

A debate will be held in Westminster Hall on Monday 1 April 2019 at 4.30pm on e-petitions 241584, 235138 and 243319 relating to leaving the European Union. The Member leading the debate is Catherine McKinnell MP.